Tragedy and Exploitation — The Progressive Way

I’ll leave it to others better suited to comment on the horror of Friday afternoon in Newtown, Conn. I am not yet a parent and would not presume to understand the emotions involved in something like this.

But on the media reaction and exploitation that followed the horrific news, I will comment.

Simply put, it was disgusting.

I’ve said before how progressives will exploit anyone and anything to advance their agenda, but I’d always thought there was a line, somewhere, of decency they wouldn’t cross. I was wrong.

With the blood of the victims still wet, progressives began their call for gun control. They had no idea if the guns were purchased legally (they were, and stolen from the first murder victim, the killer’s mother), what kind of guns they were (they were pistols, not “assault weapons,” though a semi-automatic rifle was found, unused, in the killer’s car), or even if the killer was in custody or dead (there were stories of a hunt for a second shooter) before they succumbed to the siren call of their agenda.

Michael Moore, noted tragedy profiteer, took to Twitter: with“Only minutes away from pundits & politicians say, “This isn’t the time to talk about gun control.” Really? When is that moment?”

A short time later he followed up: with: “The NRA hates freedom. They don’t want you to have the freedom to send your children to school & expect them to come home alive.”

No fiction writer could do the sickness of that man justice.

But Moore wasn’t alone, David Frum was his usual self and joined a chorus of his fellow progressives that included Piers Morgan, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and nearly the entire homepage of The Huffington Post in calling for more gun control.

Actress Rashida Jones: tweeted, “Gun control is our only road to freedom. Freedom from the fear of senselessly losing children. I’m so saddened. WE NEED LAWS NOW.”

The stupidity of these people is self-evident. States with the most freedom to own and carry guns have the: lowest crime rates. Meanwhile, cities such as Chicago, where it’s illegal to own a gun, have the most gun violence.

But although the side of liberty has the statistics, progressives play on emotion. Facts don’t matter in a world of crying children, and progressives know it. A complicated issue is offered a simple solution that appeals to the feeling of helplessness and promises to alleviate it. It’s a tactic used by despots throughout history.

Since we have a media that functions as the ground troops for the progressive movement, that they would line up to offer their megaphone surprised no one. A manufactured protest of anti-Second Amendment progressive activists that attracted only a couple-dozen people (there were more reporrters there than protesters) received more coverage from the Democratic Media Complex than all the huge Tea Party protests. The event came together as if it were an Ikea desk sitting in the corner just waiting for the opportunity to be assembled.

All three major networks ran hour-long specials Friday night reiterating the limited information they had and featuring literal guesses as to what must’ve happened. Facts don’t matter when trying to scare people.

The most despicable part of the media coverage was the interviews. Children as young as these vultures could find had cameras in their faces seeking any sound bite they could milk for ratings. But those children wouldn’t be there were their parents not feet away giving permission and granting their own interviews about their person relief.

No one can blame a parent for an immeasurable sense of relief over finding their child unharmed, but they can be blamed for sticking themselves and their child in front of television cameras to spread that relief to a grieving community. Has the allure of “fame,” no matter how fleeting, overruled our sense of decency?

The president was reserved and presidential in his remarks, and the White House said this is not the time to press an agenda (we’ll see how long that lasts). But their allies would have none of it. Progressive activists and their fellow travellers in the media have a storied history of dancing on graves to advance their agenda, but rarely have they danced so gleefully on such tiny graves yet to be dug. Time will tell which argument wins the day, but I have my suspicions. As President Obama’s former chief of staff once: famously said, “You never want a serious crisis go to waste.”